Welcome TV fans! This is the new home for Tube Talk, the place for TV show reviews, celebrity interviews, news & scoop. E-mail Tube Talk Girl at jenbiller@frontier.com or reach her by mail at RR 3 Box 155, Bridgeport, WV 26330.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

It’s time, Tubers! Our favorite plucky detective, Veronica Mars, returns to television tonight to begin her college adventure. And lucky us, we get to go along with her.

Veronica debuts on the CW at 9 p.m. EST, right after Gilmore Girls. And I know you’re going to watch, or otherwise risk angering Tube Talk Girl.

Those of you who’ve never seen an episode of Veronica Mars, tonight is the chance for you to catch the best show you’re not watching. Don’t be intimidated because you’ve missed the first two seasons. The show creators are aware that new viewers may want to jump on the “Ronnie” bandwagon and have made it easy to dive in to the show. (Also, if you visit your local library or video stores, you can probably check out the first two seasons on DVD.)

In honor of Veronica’s return, I’m including some juicy gossip from a recent phone chat with show creator Rob Thomas and series regular Tina Majorino (Mac.)Thomas discusses a possible Tom Welling (Clark Kent, Smallville) crossover, the new opening credits, the aftermath of Beaver’s death, and Logan getting too likeable.

I tried my best to get some serious scoop for you about the new season, but Rob was guarding this season’s plot details like Sheriff Lamb guards Neptune. (OK, bad example.) Here is what I did get out of him:

JENNIFER: Rob, this question is for you. Last season, we had adeath of a major character. Is there anything planned this year in terms of a death? And the second part of my question is, you said earlier, last year, that there were going to be three story arcs this year, instead of the long season arc. Have you planned out what mystery is going to occur in each of those, and if so, can you tell us about the first two, or even all three?

ROB: [laughs] Man, you ask me a lot of really good questions, none of which I want to answer! I'll give you some answers, but probably not nearly as much as you want. We do know what the three mysteries are going to be. And I can tell you that they're all three going to have a very different feel. And, I think most people know, because I've been very willing to share, that the first one is the ongoing mystery of the serial rapist, but I want the second one to surprise people. I don't want to say what it is. I want it to--you know--surprise people. The things I will say is that you will get introduced to the second mystery in the final episode of the first mystery, which is episode nine. And also, I'll tell you a little bit about the inspiration for it, which, I think will only make sense after you see what it is, and if you actually check out this movie. But, Steven Soderbergh did this low-budget digital video murder mystery called "Bubble." And there are pieces of it. There are ways it is set up that I really liked, and I wanted to have a mystery in which, for the first time on Veronica Mars, you start seeing. You see the build up to it, as opposed to just being introduced to the crime, after it.

JENNIFER: The briefcase, is that going to be addressed in the first story arc?

ROB: Yes. It absolutely is. It's going to be addressed in the first two episodes.

As you can see, Rob was tight-lipped about upcoming storylines, but he did give us some entertaining answers to questions about Dick, Butters and others. The complete chat is transcribed at http://goodtv.vox.com/. Thank you to “She” for the excellent transcription. Spoiler phobes, read at your own risk!